Habitat
Subtropical and tropical dry forest. Also, subtropical and tropical montane moist forest, high altitude grassland, inland wetlands, plantations. From 1,000 - 3,200 m.
Blue-breasted Bee-eater (Merops variegatus) [XC585220]
by Dries Van de Loock from Kalwelwa area, Mwinilunga, North-Western province, Zambia (call)
Blue-breasted Bee-eater (Merops variegatus) [XC339288]
by Peter Boesman from North of Kawambwa, Luapula province, Zambia (call)
Subspecies
Has been placed with other small, round-winged species lacking tail-streamers in genus Mellitophagus, comprising present species and Blue-headed Bee-eater (Merops muelleri), Black Bee-eater (Merops gularis), Little Bee-eater (Merops pusillus), Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater (Merops oreobates), Red-throated Bee-eater (Merops bulocki) and White-fronted Bee-eater (Merops bullockoides). Sometimes regarded as forming a superspecies with Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater (Merops oreobates); although there is some geographical overlap between them, they are segregated altitudinally. Subspecies lafresnayii sometimes treated as full species or, alternatively, as belonging in Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater (Merops oreobates), but considered more akin to small lowland forms of present species. Further research is required.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
loringi (Mearns, 1915) - Extreme south-eastern Nigeria (Obudu and Mambilla Plateaux) and southern Cameroon east to Uganda and western Kenya.
variegatus Vieillot, 1817 - Gabon east to south-central Zaire (Kasai) and south to northern Angola.
bangweoloensis (Grant, CHB, 1915) - Central Angola, and Zambia west to western Tanzania.
lafresnayii Guérin-Méneville, 1843 - Ethiopia and south-eastern Sudan. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Ethiopian Bee-eater (Merops lafresnayii).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet